Bibliotekos: June 2026

Long Day's Journey Into Night - Review by Timothy V. Dugan
Kevin Hughes on Free Verse
Poems of Witness by James K. Zimmerman
Creation - a poem by Gabriel Guerra
Meteor Shower by Anne Whitehouse - a Review
Tribute to Omer Hadžiselimović by MiloradPejić
Protest Series - David H. Rommereim

Protest Series - Thom Brucie

Protest Series - Sharon Scholl

Protest Series - 2 more from J.K. Zimmerman

Protest Series - Lauren Coe

Protest Series - Janyce Stefan-Cole

Protest Series - J.K. Zimmerman

Some Reading

This Human Trait: Thom Brucie's Story

Thom Brucie's Poems from Wood

Frank Russo and Human History

Poems of James K. Zimmerman

Refugees and Runes of War

Four Poems by Adin Ljuca

Andrea Vojtko: Short Story Writer

Evolution and Art - New Book

Review of Alexandra Glynn's Psalm Sonnets

Philosophical Novelist, Ed Gibney

Review of Alicia Ostriker by Nina Tassi

Standing Next to a Corpse

Review of Caroline Hagood by Nina Tassi

Review of Kevin Brown by Nina Tassi

Letter From a Poet

Tongariro by Milorad Pejić

O'Neill's Strange Interlude - Timothy Dugan

Disturbed Sleep, M. Kaat Toy

Poet James Tolan

More Poems by Milorad Pejić

Karl Geary, Author and Actor

Profile of Gary Guinn

Michigan - Jeff Vande Zande

Getting Inspired: Robert Bové

Poems by Milorad Pejić

The Empathy of Arthur Powers

Night Writer: Jeff Vande Zande

Turning Point

Cape Town

Faith and Doubt anthology

Review of John Maynard's Poetry on Growing Old

John Maynard. What’s It Like To Be Old? Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press, 2026. ISBN: 979-8-89990-352-6. $22.99, paper.

Striking a note of honesty from the beginning in the poem “Oncoming,” the author says how poetic composition mixed with physical exercise might fence off mortality. Do fences make good neighbors? Life against death can be a fencing match, no? Or do we trade life in for something else in the end? Indeed, the collection contains no raging against the eventual dying of the light but a calm acceptance (mostly) of the waves moving in, receding a bit, and then advancing some more. So, what is it like to be old, a reader might ask, as a younger version of the poet did many years ago. Now he knows that while the body aches and the lights flash on and off, he’s still alive. Some don’t even ask, the poet notes, what it’s like to be old, distancing themselves from the inevitable. In an easy, colloquial tone and rhythm, the poet circles around a universal subject, musing, talking, and exhibiting the untold facts about aging. The speaker and reader have fun with words that move lightly on the page, at times seeming to emerge.

Old people can become a series of cliches, as in “Album of the Aged,” but there’s always more truth to a whole life. For instance, the poet does not see heroism in old age. One can try, but it’s strained, fake, even pretentious. Rather, in “The Heroic,” he says “skip the tragic thrill.” It’s like this, really, from a partial line in “Two Oldies Chilling”: “still passing” – i.e., silent and unmoving but yet going toward and away from something… Perspectives of aging and of the aged from multiple angles abound in the collection.

With subtle references to major poets (e.g., Yeats), the speaker is versatile and makes a poem about a rainy-day retirement meeting at a café enlightening and brisk. Is it true there’s nothing new when you reach a certain age? Are old people disgruntled? Are they all tattered clothes on sticks? For this speaker, no, evident in the fun he has writing verse so lithe and winsome the reader can’t help (at times) but smile. Some days are better than others, admittedly. Or, as the poet writes, the farmer prays for rain. There’s humor in many lines of numerous poems toggled with seriousness and self-effacement, or as the speaker says (in “Keeping Up, Keeping Up, Keeping Up”) “…I’ve got a poetry / Machine…” that just won’t stop. The aging mind and body are revealed, as is the old person in the family or society: who thinks what of whom – and why? Somethings, like memories and feelings, are lost, but “Who forgot to turn desire off?” (“Dirty Old Men”). This poetry is like a mirror up to human nature, for sure.

Lines vary in length, pace, and intensity. Some lines glide like a song lyric, others like a nursery rhyme, and others like a meditation. The collection is a delectable buffet of poems relating lives well lived, dreamy consciousness of what has passed and what’s yet to come. The writing is at times fearless. Then sad. Then joyful. Always reflective. The images and metaphors don’t strain painfully but open themselves naturally, like the leaves on a tree. For example, they young body was casually adorned in a “steel vest” that in old age is pierced by “Pains and threats” (“Growing Mortal”). One worries about alarm signals the body sends – a pain here, a flutter there – reminding one not to postpone plans, not lose balance, and not relinquish the fight.

As the title of one poem suggests, being human and especially getting old is “a work in progress” filled with all kinds of “tests.” There are glimpses of others and stories of different people, all “mortal stuff” that moves steadily in verse sometimes sharp, or soft, but always emotionally genuine and physically real. These are not metaphysical words or images but the work of an authentic poet with keen senses: observing, watching, touching, and listening. There’s also, as the poet acknowledges, the discerning inner eye. That’s what we like: it’s not all mushy navel gazing. Many lines, though, rise up to provoke a thoughtful pause, like this one from “Waste” coming to grips with age from a youthful perspective: “The fine degradation of their loss…” There’s a fight against time, to be in time, enjoy time, and not waste time. To hold, at least temporarily, “the precious stone of life” in the warmth of one’s hand (“Slipping Away”).

The old don’t necessarily feel morose, says the speaker, but jump with joy when they feel well and see a future (“A Sudden Jumping Joy”) – like eating ice cream. Don’t despair, resist somewhat. Youth and age are similar aspects of the same face, readers discover, with days both good and bad. What’s the logic of life? Try to be happy with what you have. Then, build and renew as you can with the “nourishing grain” (“Longevity II”) even though there is, certainly, a tragic sense to life.

- Reviewed by Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D.

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Thursday, June 25, 2026

Review of John Maynard's Poetry on Growing Old

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